Planners OK one-class, private elementary school

Published: February 24, 2000 12:00 AM

City planning commission members agreed by a vote of 7-0, with one abstention, to allow a one-class, private elementary school to be created in the home at 704 Quinby Ave. Commission member Tami Mosser abstained because the school will be located next door to property she owns.

For Wayne County Montessori to open the school at the property, it needed the city's Planning Commission's approval of a conditional use request because the district is currently zoned for medium low density residential.

The Montessori program will start out with a single classroom and two teachers, said Chuck Robinson, the architect for the school. The school will start with about 15 children, he said, and the most it could host without moving to a larger facility would be 25 to 30.

"The program runs with a directress, or head teacher, and an assistant teacher," Robinson said. "We are looking at using the first floor only, converting some of the downstairs rooms and supplying them with the type of furniture needed for this type of program."

Planning Commission member Jack Crafton said his only concern was the lack of green space for the children to play outdoors.

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"I walked around the property, and I was a little disappointed there is not much green space for the kids to get out and exercise," Crafton said.

Robinson said that is a concern of the school's, but that it does meet state requirements, and Christmas Run Park is directly across the street.

The school is also planning on expanding the driveway so it has an exit onto Park Avenue. Once that is done, the driveway will have a one-way flow of traffic, with vehicles entering off Quinby and exiting onto Park, Robinson said.

David Hoag, a homeowner in the area, said he would much rather see a Montessori school go into the neighborhood than have a home divided up and become a rental property.

"Currently, we have two or three houses for sale around us," Hoag said. "We are worried about houses going up for rent and what the houses are going to be like. We are familiar with the Montessori school, and Montessori would be a good fit there.

"We welcome a couple more smiling, young faces to the neighborhood."

The commission also gave preliminary approval to Dr. Richard Davis to build a public dedicated road and common access drive on almost 27 acres of land located on the south side of Smithville-Western Road, between Clear Creek Valley and Burbank roads.